


Danaganronpa / Love Live! AU Chapter 7

by STARRY_RlN



Series: The Killing Idol Festival [7]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Love Live! School Idol Project, Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: Crossover, F/F, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-01
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-05-17 01:22:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14822544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/STARRY_RlN/pseuds/STARRY_RlN
Summary: chapter 7 of my LL/DR AU! Here is the usual reminder to read the previous chapters first if you haven't already!





	Danaganronpa / Love Live! AU Chapter 7

**Author's Note:**

> nerd stats: 82962 characters and 68 pages

**_Chapter 7_ **

**_The End of the End_ **

 

Rin and Riko.

They’re gone now.

Only Five of us are left.

Myself. Dia. Ruby. Mari. Hanayo.

Maki’s words from seven days ago still echo in my mind.

These should be the five who escape.

These should be the five who survive and carry on the memories of those who died.

These should…

But there’s something preventing me from accepting that.

_ The traitor. _

According to Maki’s deductions, we can narrow it down to only two of the remaining girls.

Dia or Mari.

One of them is the traitor working for Monokuma.

One of them will carry this game on until it ends.

But that’s not all.

According to Umi, the Mastermind is still alive.

The only thing I can hope is that the Mastermind wasn’t part of this game.

Of course the Mastermind can’t be one of the 13 who died, otherwise who would be controlling Monokuma? Though maybe he’s just a really smart AI… If that were the case then it really could be anyone… I don’t know what to think anymore...

“Well… The couches Chika and Riko were sleeping on, we should look under them, right? Riko said that there were paintings for herself and Rin under them. Let’s put them on their altars.”

“Good idea Mari, that’s going to leave 2 more spots open…”

“You’re right Sis, but they won’t be filled. Not only because Riko isn’t here to fill them, but also because no one else has to die!”

“Yeah, Maki said that we can use the motive this time to escape! She said that we can use the motive to end the game! All it took for us to survive was for two people to sacrifice themselves… All it took was for Riko and Rin to give their lives for myself and Chika…”

“The five of us can leave once Monokuma gives us the motive… The five of us can go home… That’s what Maki told us…”

“Y’know, you’ve all seemed really eager to find out the motive this time. You all must reeeaaally trust Nishikino.”

“H-Huh? Monokuma! What do you want?”

“Well Koizumi, I just figured since you’re all so eager I could give it to you upfront… I didn’t think you’d all be so excited to kill each other this close to the end, upupu!”

“Shut up Monokuma! Maki told us, she told us that we could all survive…”

“Well, she also told you that she was willing to kill you all for the game to end, so what’s your point Ohara?”

“Just tell us the motive already Monokuma! Let us go home!”

“Upupu, I’ve been waiting Takami. I’ve been waiting ever since Nishikino said that, I’ve been waiting since Maki gave you that hope that five of you could escape, waiting to crush that hope and fill you all with a painful despair!”

“Wh-What are you talking about Monokuma!”

“Geez Kurosawa, whad'ya think? Isn’t it obvious?”   
“What, are you not giving us the motive or something?”

“Buu buu! Sorry, that’s you catchphrase, isn’t it? Well, I’m definitely giving you your final motive here.”

“Then tell us already! What is it!”

“Fine, fine Takami, don’t be so pushy, save that for when you push someone into the incinerator and roast them alive! Anyways, here’s your final motive!”

Suddenly, Monokuma disappeared and the screen in the corner of the Commons Area lit up.

“Hello! Hello! It’s the announcement of the very last killing motive! I hope you all have enjoyed the wait! But it’s time. I’m sure you all see the timer that has appeared in the corner of the screen!”

Monokuma was right, there was a timer in the top-right corner that read 57:54, and as I looked it turned to 57:53.

“Well, at Nighttime two days from now, you’re all going to die! If nobody is dead before the timer hits zero, I’ll make it so you all are!”

Monokuma disappeared from the screen and the timer expanded to fill the whole thing. I looked at everyone else. I was speechless. Mari was eventually able to voice what I think everyone had thought.

“How- How are we supposed to use a motive like that to escape? There has to be something we’re missing about it…”

“Geez Ohara! I thought someone like you would be able to figure it out!”

“Wh-What…”

“Come on Koizumi! Take a guess at least! Fine, I’ll tell you all. Nishikino lied! There was never any way for you to beat the motive!”

“What do you-”

“You’re really all stupid, ya know that? You really trusted Nishikino so much that the possibility she lied didn’t even occur to you? Look at how much she lied before!”   
“Th-That’s-”

“So there you go! You have to kill someone off now! Either that or you’ll all die! Easy as that!”

Monokuma then quickly left the Commons Area and we were all left standing there. Watching the timer in shock, until Hanayo broke the silence.

“Wh-What just…”

“Happened…”

“What are we going to do now?”

“Is there anything we even can do?”

“... Hey, Hanayo, Ruby, Chika, Mari, listen there’s- er, no…”   
“Huh? Sis? Is something wrong?”   
“N-No, forget about it for now…”

“A-Alright Sis…”

“Hey… Everyone…”

“Huh? What is it Mari?”

“Um, well, there’s still a way for us to ruin the game with this motive… It’s probably not the best solution but it’s the best that I can think of…”

“Huh? Then tell us Mari! Is there still a way for us to escape?!”   
“No… There’s not Hanayo…”

“But you just-”

“Let’s all die together.”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“M-Mari?”

“Think about it Dia, Monokuma wants us to kill each other! So let’s ruin his game by not playing it. Let’s refuse to kill each other. We’ll all die but isn’t that better than watching two more of us have to die to the game?”

“I… I agree with Mari… It may not be what Rin would have wanted for me, she’ll probably be upset to see me so soon, but it’s better than having to kill each other!”

“Y-Yeah, I don’t want anyone else to have to kill someone! Let’s all just refuse to kill anyone! Then Monokuma won’t have the game he wants!”

“Mari… Hanayo… Chika…”

“Sis… I… I’m willing to give my life too… I don’t want to watch anyone kill someone else again… I’m fine with this as long as we both go together…”

“I- I see… But… Isn’t that the same as giving up? We’re all just laying down and dying… What if that’s what Monokuma wants?”

“No Dia, it’s not giving up if there’s a purpose to our deaths. We’re dying to end this. We’re dying so that the Killing Festival can’t continue. We’re giving our lives to end it without a winner. This way no one wins, not even Monokuma!”

“Alright… I understand. You’re right, this is the best choice to ruin the plans of Monokuma and the mastermind.”

“Alright! Let’s sacrifice ourselves to defeat the mastermind and Monokuma then!”

“Yeah Chika! That’s the spirit! We’ll die with a smile on our face! We’ll deny Monokuma’s despair, while also not accepting the Future Foundation’s hope!”

“Alright then. If we only have about two and a half days left to live we should spend it doing whatever we can to be happy.”

“You’re right Hanayo, so why don’t the five of us take a bath tonight. It’ll be a good way to relax together.”

“Oh! Dia! I didn’t expect you to suggest that, that’s more my style.”

“Shut up Mari.”

With our spirits lifted somewhat, the five of us all ate in the Cafeteria before gradually drifting in our own directions, except for Dia who asked for Ruby to stay with her.

 

Once I was done eating I knew it was time.

I didn’t have a chance before since I was never alone, but now I should be able to check under the couch in the Commons Area.

I should be able to find what Maki was trying to tell me.

 

When I arrived in the Commons Area I saw that Rin and Riko’s paintings were in their spots on the tables along the back wall. Hanayo was probably the one to put them there. But my attention was towards one thing. The couch Dia had been sleeping on before. Maki told me to look underneath it.

Nobody else was in the room. I checked in the hall, nobody was there and Dia’s room was unoccupied so she wouldn’t suddenly come out and see me. Maki told me to make sure nobody knew what I was doing so I have to make sure none of the other four see me snooping around, and definitely not Dia or Mari.

After making sure I wouldn’t be spotted I got down on the floor and reached my arm under the couch. I couldn’t see too well since the couch was so low to the ground, it was honestly a miracle I could reach my arm under it, but eventually, after feeling around underneath it, I felt something different. Like a scar. I was eventually able to pull it open and reached up inside it. I couldn’t reach very high but I quickly felt what had been left for me. I pulled my hand back out and Looked at what I now held.

It was a notebook, much like the one that the code was in. Though this one had a purple cover.

I opened the front page and saw very large print on the front page.

_ Do not read this anywhere other than the Baths. _

Alrighty then, guess I won’t continue quite yet.

I put the notebook in my shirt and went to the Baths. When I got there I checked the shower stalls to make sure nobody was there.

Alright, I’m alone, let’s see what Maki wanted to tell me.

I opened to the next page and saw another set of words in very large print.

_ Seriously, don’t keep going. If you are not Chika Takami and are not in the Baths then please put this notebook back where you found it. _

Then the next page.

_ I swear, this is your last chance to stop. _

Yup, I’m here, Maki really wanted to be sure I didn’t mess this up.

_ Alright, you better be there, next page is where it starts. _

Finally, getting to the new stuff. I flipped to the next page and was greeted by much smaller text that was a lot harder to read, probably so that nobody could read over my shoulder.

_ Alright, first things first, I should give you some background. The time I am writing this is After killing You and poisoning Umi. I have already regained my memories through my order to Monokuma. If I find out anything new during the investigation or trial then sorry, I won’t be able to include it. Also, this should go without saying, but if you’re reading this then my plan to sacrifice everyone failed. I’m not surprised, You’d have to be stupid to blindly trust a killer. _

Wow, thanks, guess we’re all stupid then.

_ Well, now that that’s out of the way, I’ll start with what I know. The traitor is either You, Riko, Dia, or Mari. They must be alive, but they can’t be Ruby. That’s what I’ve been able to figure out. Well, I may as well say how I figured it out. The door to Management. It disappears after one person goes in. I was able to go in after Kanan’s trial, when Nico and I went off before everyone else. While there I found a few things. First, here’s what happened as soon as I went in. I saw something important. There was a door on the wall to my left. Reasonably you would think that’s impossible, that should have lead into the Garbage Room. Well, the map is a lie. There’s a small hallway between Management and the Garbage Room. And when I walked in, there was an arm that pulled the door closed. I can say with confidence that it was likely the arm of the Mastermind. It was a human arm, so it wasn’t Monokuma, though it was too fast for me to figure out anything else. Naturally, I went up to the door and tried to open it, but it was locked. So I couldn’t figure out the Mastermind’s identity. It was clear they left in a rush though, as they left a lot of papers around. The only important things I found were notes. One note said this. “I shouldn’t have let Chika play this game. Maybe I could bullshit a rule break, but that’d be too obvious, and I don’t want to use my pawn yet...” I’m sure “pawn” refers to the traitor. This is what made me suspect that there was a traitor at first. But the other important note I found was what drove it home. It said “Having a traitor from the closer knit group helps, especially now that there’s two more of them than μ’s. I’ll have to be careful with her though. I don’t want to let her reveal herself, but I also don’t want to do anything to make it obvious who she is.” And of course, since the door disappeared after Hanamaru’s trial I know the traitor can’t be Kanan, Yoshiko, or Hanamaru since they died. I would say that technically we never saw Hanamaru’s corpse since she was blown up beyond recognition, but of course Nozomi killed her with her own hands. So she can’t have been switched out for blood packs unless Nozomi was working with the Mastermind as well. So, that leaves Ruby, and the other four. Ruby’s reason for being ruled out is because she was in the Commons Area with you up until you checked the door after Hanamaru’s trial. I know because I asked her what she did after the trial. Now you may be thinking that you should check to see if the door is still there. This is a good idea, since if You was the traitor like I guessed, then the door would still be there. Same for if either the killer or victim of the starvation motive are the traitor. But I’ll tell you this, don’t go in. There’s one thing I found out that I can’t tell you. If I were to tell you it would make me feel like the worst scum there is, and if you went in there you would find out what it is I’m hiding. It’s clear that the Mastermind wanted me to find what I did, running out of the room was an act since they would have all the cameras to tell them I was coming. They wanted me to find what I found. They gave me the option to do what I can’t bring myself to do. Anyways, I’m starting to ramble. There are more important things for me to tell you about. So, I’ll start with a guess. You should be reading this after the starvation motive ended and the final motive was given, since during the starvation motive you would be unable to access the Baths, so, did Monokuma change the final motive? _

Huh? What is she talking about? Changing the motive? Monokuma didn’t mention anything about that...”

_ Depending on whether or not he did, I may be able to tell you who the Mastermind is. If he didn’t change it, I can give you a name. The name of a girl. If the final motive was not changed, then the Mastermind is Junko Enoshima. _

Junko Enoshima? Who’s that?

_ Now you probably just thought, “Junko Enoshima? Who’s that?” Well, of course you won’t know about her. Your memories were taken, including your memories of The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History, or the Tragedy for short. Well, to put it simply, Junko Enoshima brought forth the end of the world, sending everyone into a deep spiral of despair. The Future Foundation was built to combat that despair and instate hope instead. Though this is something you’ll probably learn about later, I won’t go too deep into that since it’s not the purpose of my message to you. So, if the final motive, the countdown motive, went unchanged, she is the Mastermind of this game. Junko Enoshima was a natural genius, that genius is what drove her to despair. She was bored and decided to destroy the world ‘for funsies.’ But I’m willing to guess that’s not the case. If Junko Enoshima was the Mastermind she would have seen through my bluff. She would have known I lied about the loophole in the final motive. But if the motive was changed, then she isn’t the Mastermind. _

So then… Does that mean..? I know who the mastermind is? Is the Mastermind really this… Junko? The girl who brought the end of the world is making us kill each other? I… I need to keep reading...

_ If the Mastermind changed the motive, then they aren’t as smart as Enoshima. They would be an impersonator. If they wanted to impersonate Enoshima properly, then they would have stayed in the background, uninvolved with the killing game. That’s what Enoshima did. She had her twin sister take her place as she pulled the strings from out of sight, before killing her. By that logic that would make Honoka’s sister Yukiho the likely Mastermind and Kotori a second traitor, but that’s stupid, Kotori was a mislead killer and Honoka was an unlucky first victim. It’s probable that the Mastermind is not a participant in this though. We saw Kanan and Honoka’s bodies and they were certainly dead, and we saw as Kotori was devoured and Eli was crushed. So neither of them could reasonably be the Mastermind, and since I saw a hand I know the Mastermind was already in that room waiting. The reason I’m not certain is because it’s possible the Mastermind simply avoided death or had a body double, so it’s still possible that one of the participants is the Mastermind. And if that’s the case then she’s probably still alive. She’ll probably be among the final five. This is all speculation though, Please don’t trust anything other than the fact that if the motive was changed then the Mastermind is not Junko Enoshima. Anyways, there’s one last thing I need to tell you about, it’s- _

“Hey Chika, What are you doing in here? What’s that?”

Hearing Mari’s voice I scrambled to close the notebook and make sure she hadn’t read anything, but she was on the opposite side of the room where the entrance was, there was no way she saw anything.

“H-Huh? Oh! Mari! It’s nothing! What are you doing here?”

“Well, Dia said she wanted us all to bathe together, I hope you remember that, so I came early to get everything ready, make sure the water was warm and all that.”

“W-Wait, what time is it?”

“About 7, why?”

“Ah! I didn’t realize it was so late, um, well, I’ll come back in a minute, don’t worry about me!”

I left the Baths almost a little too quickly. I can’t let Mari see what’s in the book. I can finish reading it later. I’m sure there’s a reason she put the notebook in the Commons Area rather than in my room when I wouldn’t have been able to read it until we were back in the regular hotel anyways. I went into the Commons Area and saw that it was empty. I quickly put the Notebook back into the tear I had taken it out of and went back to the Baths.

“Hey, uh, sorry about that Mari, it’s just that I can’t show that to anyone…”

“Maki told you to keep it a secret, didn’t she?”

“Y-Yeah…”

“Alright, I understand, I won’t pry. Maki trusted you, I’m sure whatever’s in that Notebook will end up being helpful to us in the end.”

“Yeah, thank you Mari…”

“Well hey, you should go get the others. There’s not really anything I’ll need help with, so you’d probably be more useful that way. I’m not really sure where anyone else could be, all I know is that I came from the Stage so there’s probably nobody there.”

“Alright, I’ll go look for Hanayo, Dia, and Ruby then.”

I ran out of the Baths again, though this time it was far less awkward, and went to find the other three girls.

As I searched I came to the Central Hall, and there it was.

There was the door.

The door to Management.

So that means… It’s possible the traitor is either You or Riko… But it can’t be You, Maki said so herself. She said the traitor became clear to her during the trial, but that she knew something from her memories that made her not want to reveal who it was, though that may have been a lie. She wasn't talking about her memories, she was talking about a note she found in Management the one time she beat the traitor there.

The first one I found was Hanayo, she was in the Library reading a book about cats.

“Hey, Hanayo, Mari’s started setting everything up for us to bathe together like we promised, there’s no rush though, you can finish your book first!”

“Alright, I’ll come down in a bit, see you then Chika.”

“Yup! Let’s enjoy ourselves in our last few days!”

“Think about it this way Chika, I’ll be with Rin soon enough and you’ll be back with Riko and You!”

“Y-Yeah, we’ll be together again… See you later Hanayo.”

“Yeah, see you later.”

I left Hanayo in the Library to look for Ruby and Dia. Her words kept ringing in my head. We’d be together again. I guess that means I’ll be letting Riko down… You probably won’t be happy either…

I wound up finding Ruby and Dia together in the Courtyard. Ruby was wandering around looking at the different flowers while Dia watched her.

“Hey, Mari’s getting everything ready in the Baths, there’s no rush but we’ll be ready soon!”

“Oh, alright Chika. We’ll catch up later.”

“Hmm… You’ve seemed off lately Dia. What wrong?”

“W-Well, of course I’d be a bit off, We’ll be dead in a little over two days.”

“But that’s not it, you’ve been like this longer than that, ever since the trial…”

Dia let out a deep sigh before continuing.

“When did you become so observant Chika?”

“I’m not sure really… But there’s something on your mind, you can feel safe telling us!”

“I’m not- No, nevermind. You’ll know soon enough Chika, so don’t worry about it for now.”

“A-Alright…”

Having done what I asked to do I left Dia and Ruby together, and as I left I heard a quiet exchange between the two.

“Sis… Are you sure there’s…”

“It’s okay Ruby, you’ll be okay.”

 

Eventually everyone gathered in the Baths as we promised. The water was warm and it felt nice to really relax for once. Even if everyone was gone, even if we’d all be dead in just over two days, it’s nice that we can still relax together. Myself, Mari, Dia, Ruby, and Hanayo.

“Hey, everyone, can I talk to you?”

“Sure, what is it Dia?”

“Mari, I… Need to talk to you all about something, that’s the real reason I suggested that we all take this bath together.”

“W-Wait, if it’s anything important, the room is bugged, Maki proved it by calling Monokuma from in here, so even if he can’t see us, he can hear us.”

“I know Chika, that’s not an issue. This was just the best place I could think of to say this. I was avoiding it but I guess there’s no turning back now…”

“Sis? What’s wrong? You’re still being weird…”

“I… I’m the traitor working for Monokuma.”

 

Silence.

 

Sure, she was one of only two possibilities but.

 

Nobody wanted to believe it.

 

It explained a lot of things but.

 

We didn’t want to believe it was true.

 

“I know you’ll probably immediately turn to accusations like ‘how could you support this killing!’ but that’s not what the situation is. Maki was close when she guessed blackmail, but I’d compare it more to a hostage situation…”

“Huh? Someone’s being held hostage? Who is it? Is it Mom?”

“It’s you, Ruby.”

“... Huh? What do you mean?”

“That doesn’t make sense Dia, if Ruby’s the hostage why is she part of the killing festival? Why would the mastermind put her in a situation where their only bargaining chip could be lost at any time!”

“Hanayo that’s-”

“I… I see what you meant Sis… When you said that as long as you lived nothing could happen to me… You meant it… Because as long as you were useful to the Mastermind they would want to keep me alive, right?”

“Yes, Ruby’s been in a special situation since the very start. As long as I was here she couldn’t be killed. Monokuma would prevent that from happening. If she had to leave her room in the middle of the night then Monokuma would find a reason for her not to. If someone wanted to kill her, he would push them away from her… The only thing Monokuma wouldn’t do anything about was if Ruby ended up becoming a killer, but that seemed impossible, so I accepted to the terms.”

“But why would you accept those terms? Was the killing festival inevitable or something?”

“No Mari, that’s not the reason I accepted. The reason I accepted is why it’s a hostage situation. The mastermind told me if I disobeyed then Ruby… Would be killed…”

“W-Wait, why are you telling us this then? If it could get Ruby killed then shouldn’t you not tell us?”

“No Chika, because if the Mastermind killed Ruby now they would be breaking the agreement. Any orders given to me overwrite any previous orders, and my most recent order was ‘Do what you see fit.’ That’s why I’m telling you, because this may be the only chance I have to do whatever I want. The only reason I can even tell you is because I’ve never been alone. I asked Ruby to stay with me today for a reason. Since I’ve had her with me all day I’ve never been able to go to Management, so I’ve never been able to meet the Mastermind and receive new orders. So I’ll ask you to do something, so you know I can’t be controlled by the Mastermind anymore, I want someone to always keep watch over the door to Management. I can’t go at nighttime just like everyone else, and Ruby can vouch for the fact that there’s no communication that can be made from my room, as well as the fact that I’ve been with her ever since the trial.”   
“Y-Yeah, pretty much, and her room is normal.”

“So as long as there’s always someone watching the door to management I can’t go in.”

“Wait, why’s that? Now that we know you’re the traitor shouldn’t it be fine for you to go in with us watching?”

“No, because then the Mastermind’s identity would be revealed. If someone else was able to follow me then they would know who the Mastermind is.”

“Wait so you meet with them personally? Does that mean the Mastermind is someone other than-”

“No Hanayo, I don’t meet with them personally, the Mastermind speaks to me through a microphone and I hear their voice, albeit distorted. The reason anyone coming with me would know is because the speaker I hear them through is named ‘their name - bot.’ So it’s not exactly subtle. The original meeting was face to face though, so I know it’s not a red herring. Maybe the Mastermind is participating, maybe they aren’t, I can’t say that since I was given an order that I was told could not be overwritten which was to not reveal the Mastermind’s identity, no matter what.”

“I see… So I’m the Mastermind’s bargaining chip for you…”

“No Ruby, you’re more than that, you’re my sister who I love more than anything, and that’s why I’m protecting you. I won’t let the Mastermind hurt you.”

“Th-Thank you Sis…”

“S-So wait, since you’re uncontrolled now, you want us to make sure you can’t go to Management so that you can’t be controlled again. I just want to be sure I understand Dia.”

“That’s right Mari, You can watch me or you can watch the door of Management. Either way works for me.”

“Alright, if you can’t be controlled then I don’t want you to feel swarmed, so I’ll watch the door for these last two days.”

“Thank you Mari. I… appreciate your understanding for my situation.”

“Of course, you’re just trying to protect your sister. I don’t think any of us could hold anything against you for that…”   
“Thank you Hanayo, thank you all. Honestly I almost thought you four might make me sacrifice myself with public suicide to make sure I didn’t pull anything…”

“N-No way Sis! We could never do that!”

“I know… I guess it was just paranoia. Well, if anyone has any other questions about anything then feel free to ask, sorry for souring the mood of our bath.”

“No Sis, it’s fine! Don’t be sorry about this. You’re just doing everything you can do to protect me! Thank you!”

Ruby leaned over and hugged Dia. This is comforting. Even if there’s a traitor who’s been under Monokuma’s control she’s currently able to do whatever she wants as long as she doesn’t give away the name of the Mastermind. Right now, Dia’s just like the rest of us. No, she’s more like how Umi was. The same as the rest of us, she just knows who the Mastermind is.

“Um, anyways, Dia, I do have a question for you.”

“What is it Chika?”

“Well, you knew I needed to know what a Caesar Shift was, is that because you’re the traitor?”

“No, the Trial Grounds aren’t bugged at all, and none of the microphones on the cameras would have picked up what Maki said to you. Plus, I haven’t met with the mastermind since after Nozomi’s trial. I only know what she said to you because you were almost directly across from me. I was able to read her lips. I saw her say shift and took a guess since she gave you a notebook.”

“I see… That makes sense.”

“Um, I have a question too. When Maki was rambling she said that you made yourself clear to her during the trial. What did she mean by that?”

“That’s a fair question Hanayo. Well, I’m not sure exactly but I have a fair guess. I saw Maki take the knife when Ruby knocked it out of Mari’s hand. We made direct eye contact. She probably figured that I was the traitor because I didn’t out her, which is true. I was ordered in the same way that I wasn’t supposed to say the Mastermind’s name that I wasn’t supposed to expose a killer right away even if I knew who they were. And actually, I was one of the two who voted for Maki as the one who killed Umi. Though I don’t know who the other was.”

Everyone looked at each other but nobody said anything.

“Well, if it’s not one of us… It must have been either Rin or Riko.”   
“Yeah, you’re right Chika. But I guess it’s a good thing most of us believed Maki. Even if the end is the same, at least this way we’ve all come to terms with our deaths…”

“Hanayo…”

“Well, it’ll be nighttime soon. Ruby, I’m guessing you’ll be with Dia tonight, right?”

“That’s right Mari.”

“Alright then. We shouldn’t have any issues. Let’s all get out before it gets too late and Monokuma ends up yelling at us.”

Almost as if on cue, a familiar voice came echoing from outside in the hallway.

“This is an important Hotel bulletin. It is now Nighttime, the Cafeteria, Central hall, and Exercise rooms are now off limits.”

 

We all started to get out of the bath and dried off. When I went back to my room and got into bed it felt empty. It was the first time since Kanan died that I’d slept alone. Eventually, despite the emptiness, I fell asleep.

 

“This is an important Hotel bulletin. Nighttime is now over, I hope you all have a bea-utiful day!”

Monokuma’s announcement woke me up as usual. I looked up to the screen and saw the number of hours remaining. 40 hours until Monokuma would kill us all.

I got out of bed and got changed. As I dressed myself I noticed something in the drawer.

One of You’s shirts.

When did this get here?

It’s not like I can wear it though, the rules say so…

Wait.

Do they?

I took my Monobook off the table by my bed and looked back at the rule.

“Rule 14: The intentional sharing of clothing with a living resident is prohibited.”

That’s right.

It says you’re only not allowed to share with living residents…

I can wear this shirt.

So I did, I put on the shirt that had once been You’s. And I heard a knock at my door.

Upon opening it, I saw Dia standing there with Ruby.

“Hey, Chika, I wanted to talk with everyone in the Cafeteria. You should know what it’s about.”

“Yeah… Let’s go.”

I followed Dia to the Cafeteria and saw Hanayo and Mari already there.

“So…”

“I’m guessing you wanted to talk about how we can make sure you don’t talk to the Mastermind, right?”

“Y-Yes, that’s right Mari… Well, there’s two options, either you can watch me, or you can watch the door. I figured that we should do both.”

“Well, there are four of us, so we could have Ruby stay with you and myself, Chika, and Mari can take turns watching the door, right?”

“Exactly, I want to stay with Ruby anyways, so I figured doing both would be easy enough. The shutter blocks the hall that Management is in at Nighttime so you don’t need to watch it then. It lasts for eight hours so you’ll have to split the other 16 somehow.”

“No, that’s not right, it’s possible the Mastermind would open the shutters for you at Nighttime. I’ll watch it at night then sleep when my turn ends.”

“Oh, that’s why you look so tired Mari, you probably watched it last night too, didn’t you.”

“Yeah, that’s right Ruby. I had to skip out on my morning run to watch it but we’re only going to live for 2 more days, I’m sure Kanan will understand.”

“Well, I’ll head there when I wake up, then Hanayo can come switch with me around 2PM. That should work, right?”

“Alright, and then when the Nighttime announcement comes tonight I’ll wait for Mari to come and take my place, right?”

“Yup, I can do that.”

“Then, Chika, you go there now, I’ll stay with Dia, Hanayo can do whatever she wants, and Mari should go to sleep.”

“Alright, that works for me as long as you’re all happy. I don’t care if you tie me up or blockade me in the Stage since that’s the only room with doors that open outwards, so long as you all feel safe I’m happy.”

“No Dia, we don’t need to do anything that drastic. We told you, we trust you, we know you’re in a tough spot, and this is what you think is best for you.”

“Thank you Mari… Now go get some sleep, you need it.”

“Yeah, Yeah, I know. But there’s one more thing I want to ask of you Dia.”

“What is it?”

“I want you to give me your Monobook.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Well, we know Monokuma can send messages directly to our Monobooks, so who’s to say those messages can’t be directed at one person in particular?”

“I see. You’re making sure the Mastermind can’t contact me through the Monobooks, right?”

“Exactly, I trust you, but I don’t want to leave any opportunity for you to betray us. We’ve been betrayed enough…”

“I understand. Here, if Monokuma sends out anything I can just see it on Ruby’s Monobook anyways, so it doesn’t matter.”

Dia handed her Monobook to Mari.

“Thank you, I’ll see you later. try to enjoy yourselves.”

With that, Mari got up and left the Cafeteria.

“I should probably head to the Central Hall to watch the door too, I’ll see you all later.”

“Yeah, I’ll go with you Chika, I wanted to go to the Library anyways.”

“Okay, let’s go then.”

As Hanayo and I left the Cafeteria I gave Dia a hug and Hanayo hugged Ruby. Had the circumstances been different I’m sure Ruby would be ecstatic, but it was hard to feel that way. We all felt empty. We weren't sad, but we weren’t happy. We weren’t angry but we weren’t relaxed. We were anxious. How would this happen. How would Monokuma kill us? Would it be quick? Would it be a full execution? Who knows. But it doesn’t matter. The end is the same. We’ll all die. Plain and simple.

When we got to the Central Hall I sat on the floor outside of Management and Hanayo went into the Library.

It was a boring job. Sitting in front of a door. Luckily, Hanayo was nice enough to bring me a few books to pass the time. I ended up reading one about pianos and famous pianists in history. It reminded me of Riko. Even if they were gone I had this book and You’s shirt to remember them. The only time I can think that it could have been put there was when You left my room and went to the Pool before being killed. Maybe she was just preparing for the worst, or maybe she expected to die, who knows.

I sat in front of the door and waited for nothing. Just making sure Dia couldn’t come into Management.

My waiting was interrupted though, as the entire building felt like it was going to fall apart. It began to vibrate like an earthquake at magnitude 7. I could barely keep my balance as one of the lights in the hall went out and I heard a crash come from further down the hall.

Oh no, Hanayo’s in the Library, a bookshelf could have fallen on her! I struggled to run down the hall and as I came to the door it was flung open.

“Ch-Chika! What’s going on? Is it an earthquake?”

“I-I don’t know! Come on! Get in the hall! It’s safer since there isn’t anything that could fall on us!”

Hanayo came into the hall and we tried to brace ourselves until the vibration eventually subsided. I then heard a pair of beeps from my and Hanayo’s waists and opened my Monobook.

There was a new message on the screen that Hanayo read out loud.ma 

“Monokuma Special Bulletin, don’t head that tremor any mind, they’ll happen more and more frequently until the time is up. They will not hurt you or the building. Yet.”

“So… Is that how he’s going to kill us? He’s going to kill us all at once with an earthquake?”

“I-I guess so… That’s a much more painful way than I would have hoped… But I guess I shouldn’t have expected an easy death…”

“Yeah… I’m going back to the spot by the door… I’m not sure if it would be safe to go back into the Library. We may get a stronger one.”

“Yeah… I guess I’ll have to think of something else to do to pass the time…”

As Hanayo and I were talking, Mari, Ruby, and Dia appeared at the end of the hall.

“Thank god, you’re both okay.”

“Y-Yeah, we’re fine Mari, it said in the bulletin that they wouldn’t be dangerous.”

“It was strong enough to make my door fly open, I’m sure it was strong enough to knock over some stuff like what could be in the Medicine Room. it maybe smart not to go in there in case any poisons fell.”

“Maybe we should just stay out of this hall in general, leave the person guarding the door as the only one here.”

“That’s a good idea sis, it’s too dangerous to risk.”

“Well, it’s close enough at this point, I’m fine with taking over for you now Chika.”

“A-Alright, if you say so Hanayo.”

“Yeah, it’s fine Chika, just go relax.”

Hanayo took over in front of Management as Ruby, Dia, and Mari all went to the Courtyard, I would up following them and what I saw hurt.

The gardens were ruined. The vibration uprooted some of the smaller flowerbeds and one of the trees had even fallen over. Just how strong was that earthquake?

“This is…”

“Sad…”

“Mari, Sis, what should we-”

“There’s nothing we can do Ruby. All we can do is sit and wait. Wait until we die. The only other option would be to kill someone, but there’s no way we can do that.”

“You’re right Sis… I just wish-”

“Ruby, please, stop, you’re only making this harder…”

I could see tears starting to form in Dia’s eyes.

“Dia? What’s wrong?”

“I just… I didn’t want to have to watch everyone die… The Mastermind will probably make me watch all of you die and leave me for last as punishment for avoiding their orders… I don’t want to have to watch Ruby die… Or any of the rest of you, Chika…”

“Dia, the way you’re saying that-”

“Don’t worry Mari, I’m not stupid enough to kill one of you. I don’t want any of you to have to die, but there’s no solution I can think of that would let all five of us leave alive…”

“Hey, Sis, I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“Well, what would happen if we all went into Management at the same time? All five of us.”

“That’s a smart idea, but it wouldn’t work. The mastermind wouldn’t let us leave that easily. All that it would accomplish would be to risk your death if the Mastermind ended up being exposed.”

“O-Ok… Then I guess we’ll just have to wait then…”

“Yeah, tomorrow will be our last day…”

“We have just over 30 hours left to live…”

“That’s right Mari, we may as well spend it as well as we can.”

“Well, you wanna run with me?”

“H-Huh? W-Why?”

“Well I had to skip out this morning, so I’m making up for it now. Come on you three!”

Mari took off down the path and Dia was the first to begin running after her. Ruby and I exchanged glances before running to try to catch up. The four of us continued to run and run, until we were forced to stop by what would be our final time hearing that sound before we all die, and its accompanying announcement.

“This is an important Hotel bulletin. It is now Nighttime, the Cafeteria, Central hall, and Exercise rooms are now off limits.”

“Alright… I guess… That’s enough running… For today…”

“No… Kidding Mari… We ran for about 7 hours straight…”

Ruby and I didn’t respond. We were too busy nearly passed out from exhaustion. When did Mari and Dia get so much stamina?

“Chika… You should try to get… To your room… Here Ruby… I’ll carry you…”

Dia helped me to stand up and knelt down to lift Ruby. The four of us started walking back towards our rooms, but as we passed the Central Hall, Hanayo and Mari swapped spots.

When I got into my room I walked up to my bed and lay down. My body was exhausted but it was hard to fall asleep. The bed still felt so empty without Riko and You with me. And it was hard to think about the fact that I would die in only 24 hours.

 

As I lay unable to sleep, I thought back on a lot of things each of the girls did.

Honoka may not have been here for long, but for the time she was here, she did her best to make sure everyone got along. She didn’t want anyone to get hurt. She put out such an energetic and friendly aura. It’s sad that it got snuffed out so soon.

Kotori killed Honoka. She believed she would be the best person to survive. She wanted to live like the rest of us, but she took the step nobody else wanted to. She was bold, but she wasn’t totally ruthless. She had reasons to kill and simply considered herself the best person to survive. I guess you could call it arrogant, but she wouldn’t have done it if it weren’t for the situation.

Kanan was the third person to die. She died while trying to be friendly. She wanted everyone to work together. She wanted us to stand strong despite what happened to Honoka and Kotori. She wanted to make sure nobody would be left out or let down. But her constant push to be involved with everyone and make sure everyone could do what they wanted ended up being what got her killed.

Eli was the second person to become blackened. She killed Kanan so she could get a lot of money so that she and Nozomi could live somewhere nice together. But she let her emotions get ahead of her rationale. She was typically a very intelligent and strong person, but when it came to Nozomi she was overprotective. She became rash when it came to her, and that rashness made her into a killer.

Yoshiko was next. She had performed a ritual meant to protect us all. She meant for us to be safe. But in that same ritual she labeled herself as the next to die. She knew her death was coming, she only wished that we live as long as possible. She prolonged the inevitable as best she could, and accepted her fate. I’ll always be thankful for her sacrifice.

Nico was sixth. She wanted us to be happy together. She wanted us to be able to smile. She became Yoshiko’s killer thanks to being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Her emotions weren’t stable, and her thoughts of protecting Maki got the better of her, driving her to kill Yoshiko in a panic. But even then, she did her best to lead us to the answer. She wanted to be found out. She wanted us to find the truth so that she could tell us to face the future with a smile. And then she died.

The seventh to die was Hanamaru. She was a very kind girl, always wanting the best for everyone. Though she usually closed herself up with a book, she was ruined by the motive. She had the child-like disease, and that made her an easy target of the most terrible murder yet.

The fourth killer was Nozomi. She cared about people, though she was very secretive. She didn’t want anyone to get hurt but she made it clear that she wasn’t afraid of stepping up and doing her work herself. Her murder wasn’t at her own will though. She caught the trickster disease. It made her manipulative, it made her not herself, it made her into a murderer.

Next… Next was You… I loved her so much, and she was killed. She was meeting with Umi after I messed up… It was my fault for talking about what I overheard… It’s my fault that You had to die… How will she react when I die and we see each other again? Will she be glad to see me? Will she be mad at me for dying? I don’t know… I almost don’t want to…

Then came Umi. She lost the two people most important to her right at the start. Honoka was killed by Kotori, and she felt alone. For so long she lived without the people she cared most about. Until she was attacked and poisoned by Maki, but she didn’t let Maki kill her. During the trial she took her own life to ruin Maki’s plans after lying about memory loss. She knew who the Mastermind was, but she couldn’t tell us. Even as she died she couldn’t tell us who the mastermind was.

Maki was the eleventh to die. She killed You because she thought she was the Mastermind. She poisoned Umi so she could get her to tell us who the Mastermind was. Then she tried to make us all die to end this. She called it a mercy kill. To save us from the Future Foundation that she says locked us here before Monokuma and the Mastermind came and made us kill each other. She wanted us to find the truth, and she wanted us to be spared from living lives controlled by a bunch of people in suits. I guess that what she wanted really is going to happen now though…

Rin was the most recent one to be killed. She was a ray of energy despite the situation, and she loved us all so much. But more than anyone else, she loved Hanayo. She wanted Hanayo to be one of the five to escape. That’s why Rin decided, alongside Riko, to sacrifice herself so Hanayo would live. She gave everything to Hanayo.

Riko… She sacrificed herself as well, killing Rin and becoming blackened. She accepted her fate and died for the rest of us. But more specifically, for me. She killed Rin so I could live. She became the blackened so that I would survive and she would die instead. She thought she would be the last to die. I guess none of us expected the motive not to be as escapable as Maki made it seem.

This left myself, Hanayo, Ruby, Dia, and Mari. Dia is the traitor, Ruby is the hostage, and I’m the one the Mastermind wishes wasn’t here. The Mastermind said they didn’t want me to be in the Killing Festival. I don’t know what to think about that. But it doesn’t matter now that the game is coming to an end.

Eventually I fell asleep, though I’m not sure when exactly it happened.

 

“This is an important Hotel bulletin. Nighttime is now over, I hope you all have a bea-utiful last day of life!”

So he changed our morning announcement for today… Well, I guess I should go take Mari’s place in front of Management now.

I quickly dressed myself and glanced at the timer before running off towards the Central Hall.

15:50.

I found Mari sitting on the floor just outside of the hall. She looked up when she heard me and got up off the floor.”

“Hey Chika, that was fast.”

“Y-Yeah, I guess I did hurry, but you’ve been here all night after running for so long, you’ve gotta be tired, right?”

“Yeah, you’re not wrong there. Well, have fun sitting in front of a door, I’m going to sleep.”

Mari walked off down the hall waving back to me over her shoulder. I took her place on the floor in front of the door and it happened almost instantly.

The building began to shake, and it was stronger than it had been yesterday. I didn’t bother trying to stand, I knew I would have fallen over instantly anyways. But as I tried to sit as low to the ground as possible, a door down the hall swung open.

The door to the Medicine Room.

Thinking of what Mari said yesterday, I frantically crawled out of the hall and the shutters that usually sealed the hall during Nighttime came down. I heard a beep from my waist but I didn’t have the time to check my Monobook. I tried to move down the hall as best as I could before I saw Mari and Hanayo coming down the hall from the other direction. Mari was holding her balance but Hanayo was on the ground like me.

“Wh-Where are Dia and Ruby?! Are they okay?!”

“Yeah. they’re in Dia’s room together!”

Hearing Mari’s confirmation was nice, but why hadn’t they come out of there yet?

“Come on! Let’s go back and meet up with them!”

“Alright Hanayo, I’m coming!”

I crawled after them and the vibrations were interrupted by a violent jerk that sent Mari flying into the wall.

And then they stopped.

“Ow…”

Mari lifted her hand off of her head and we all saw something mildly disturbing.

Her hand was soaked in blood.

“Well, shit.”

“M-Maybe we can get something to wrap your head with from the Medicine Room?”

“No, it’s too dangerous Hanayo. If the cabinets fell then you’d be walking into a poison cloud.”

“Besides, The door flew open during that earthquake and the shutters for the hall slammed down. You couldn’t get in there if you tried.”

“Ah… I see… Well we have to stop Mari’s bleeding somehow!”

“It’s okay, I can just use one of my shirts. More importantly we need to go make sure Dia and Ruby are okay.”

“Y-Yeah… We’ll check on them, you get your wound covered.”

“Alright, alright, I will.”

Hanayo and I got up off the floor and the three of us started to walk back down the West Hall. Down the hall the door to Dia’s room opened and Ruby and Dia stumbled out.

“Hey, are you three okay? Ruby and I were under the desk for safety”

“Yeah, for the most part.”

“M-Mari! Don’t say that! You’re dripping with blood!”

“I’ll be fine, I just have to get it wrapped. I’ll see you all later.”

Mari went into her room and closed the door.

“A-Are you sure about this?”

“She’ll be fine Dia, she just fell and hit her head when that last jolt happened.”

“If you say so Hanayo… What about you two? You’re both okay, right?”

“Yeah, Hanayo and I were hardly able to stand but luckily that means we didn’t have anywhere to fall when the last shake happened.”

“I-I see…”

“Don’t worry Sis. We’re all okay. We only have 15 and a half hours left anyways…”

“Yeah… 15 hours until we’re all killed…”

“H-Hey, Chika, you should probably get back to the hall, right?”

“Yeah… You’re right… I guess I’ll head back there…”

I turned and walked back to the Central Hall. The grate was still down, so I guess I can’t exactly go in to watch it, but at least I can sit outside the hall like Mari did.

 

Ah, that’s right, the beep I heard when the tremor happened. I should see what the notification on my Monobook says.

Opening the Monobook, I saw a notification that didn’t surprise me as much as I expected.

_ Due to dangerous conditions, the central hall has been sealed. I appreciate your patience. _

 

After about 30 more minutes of waiting, Hanayo came down the hall with a box in her arms and sat next to me.

“Hanayo? What are you doing here? It’s not even close to time to switch.”

“Yeah, I know, but I figured you might be hungry since you came here right after you woke up. You probably didn’t have time to go to the Cafeteria, right?”

Hanayo reached into the box and produced another box. She handed the smaller box to me and I opened it to find it was filled with rice.

“Ah, sorry, that one was supposed to be mine, here’s yours.”

Hanayo gave me a different box and it had four sandwiches inside of it, though they were cut in half so it was really only two.

The two of us ate together in silence. It didn’t feel like there was much to talk about at this point. We’ve been trapped in this place for so long, and now it was coming to an end. In fifteen hours we will be dead.

When I finished my sandwiches I placed the box Hanayo had given to me and saw that she was only about halfway through her rice.

“Huh? Are you okay Hanayo? Is something wrong?”

“H-Huh? Oh… Y-Yeah… It’s weird…”

“What is? There are a lot of weird things here.”

“Y-Yeah, I guess you’re right. But… I’m the only μ’s member left… And even though Honoka and Kotori were the first two to die, Printemps still has one member alive… Me… It feels wrong… What makes me the one who deserved to last this long? What makes me special enough? Why didn’t anyone kill me? I could have died in place of Rin, or Honoka, or Hanamaru, or Yohane, there are so many girls who deserved to live more than me, so why did they have to die?”

“It’s survivor’s guilt.”

Hanayo and I looked up and I saw Dia and Ruby coming down the hall towards us.

“H-Huh? What do you mean Dia?”

“You feel guilty that you’ve been able to live instead of the other girls. That’s classic survivor’s guilt. And the way that I look at it, it’s the ones that died who are special. They didn’t happen to die, they were the only ones who made sense to die. Honoka was the easiest for Kotori to trick. Kanan wanted to get along with everyone and that came to bite her. Yoshiko wanted to sacrifice herself and whether that worked or it was luck is up to you to decide. Maru had the disease and was an easy target. You was the one Maki suspected of being the traitor and Umi was a witness. Rin wanted to give her life for you. They all had something that made them the target above anyone else. I’d say it’s your normalcy that made you last this long Hanayo.”

“I-I see…”

“What Sis means is that you didn’t have anything that made you into someone that anyone would want to kill!”

“Y-Yeah, thanks Ruby…”

“Come on Hanayo, Sis and I were going to go look in the Courtyard again. Hopefully some of it is still intact from the earthquake earlier. It’d be sad for the only pretty part of this place to be completely destroyed!”

“A-Alright, if you want me to come then I will!”

“Yay! Let’s try to enjoy ourselves, we only have 13 hours after all!”

Ruby grabbed Hanayo’s hand and pulled both her and Dia towards the Courtyard. I don’t know how she manages it. Ruby’s somehow able to keep herself together despite our imminent death… It must be Dia… If anything had happened to Dia earlier in this ordeal I’m sure Ruby would have wound up being a much different person… But thanks to Dia’s survival for this long she’s able to be uplifting despite how low everyone else’s spirits are.

 

About an hour or two later the three of them passed me again. Apparently a few of the flowerbeds are still intact and one of the benches is facing them. I’m glad. Even now there’s still some beauty in the hotel.

 

After a while more of waiting and nothing happening, Hanayo came back to meet me in the hall.

“Hey Hanayo, is it already 2?”

“No, it’s only 1, but I brought more food for lunch. I figured even with just an hour left you’ll probably want some company.”

“Aww, that’s sweet Hanayo, thank you!”

“Of course, we don’t have long left, so it’s good to spend it as best we can.”

Hanayo placed the basket she had on the floor and handed me a box while taking another box for herself. I opened mine and saw sandwiches just like she had given me earlier. She reached back into the basket and tossed me two mikan. Finally she opened her own box, revealing, once again, that it was stuffed with rice.

“Hey, Hanayo, don’t you think you’ll gain weight eating so much rice? You had it for breakfast and now again for lunch.”

“Does it really matter at this point? We shouldn’t be here tomorrow unless someone decides to betray our agreement.”

“Th-That’s-”

“What? Are you saying I’m wrong? Because I’m not… We agreed to die together. No matter how much it hurts I want that promise to come true, I don’t want to have to suffer anymore!”

“I don’t either! I’m just scared, scared of what’s going to happen… What will You and Riko think, what will Rin think? What will everyone think?”

“We already talked about this Chika. We don’t know. We don’t have any way to know. We can just deal with it when we’re dead, at least we’ll be together again. I don’t care if she hates me, I just want to be back with Rin!”

“I know how you feel… I just want to be back with Riko and You… But this can’t end like this! There has to be more to it!”

“There isn’t, and there won’t be. Unless one of the five of us kills someone else then we’ll all die. And I doubt any of the last of us wants to do it…”

Hanayo had sadness in her voice. I couldn’t tell which she wanted more, whether she wanted to live or to be back together with Rin. I wish there was some way for both to happen…

“Come on, just eat already. I’m tired…”

I listened to her and ate, but her words didn’t lose their meaning on me. I could tell what she meant.

_ I’m tired of this torture. _

 

Once I finished, I placed the lid back on top of my box and put the box back into the basket. Hanayo hadn’t finished yet but she waved for me to go. So I left her. I left her to finish eating in front of the grate covering the entrance to the middle hall, and as I turned the hall to leave her there, a small tremor vibrated the building.

It was probably the smallest we had had. It has hardly noticeable aside from the shaking of decorations on the walls. I ignored it as I returned to my room and curled up in a ball on my bed, waiting for 8 hours to pass and for my life to be ended.

 

Maybe this isn’t right. Maybe there’s something I can do, some way to stop this. But there isn’t. There’s not enough time for anything. There are only eight hours left. Nothing I can do will matter. It’s all meaningless now. We’ll all die and end the killing game without anyone winning. That’s all there is to do. Myself, Ruby, Hanayo, Dia, Mari. We’re all going to die. That’s all that’s going to happen.

We’ll die.

We’ll die.

We’ll die.

We’ll die.

We’ll die.

We’ll die.

We’ll die.

We’ll die.

We’ll die.

We’ll die.

We’ll die.

We’ll die.

We’ll die.

We’ll die.

We’ll die.

We’ll die.

We’ll die.

We’ll die.

We’ll die.

We’ll die.

We’ll die.

We’ll die.

We’ll die.

We’ll die.

We’ll die.

We’ll die.

We’ll die.

We’ll die.

We’ll die.

We’ll die.

We’ll die.

We’ll die.

We’ll die.

We’ll d-

 

My thoughts were interrupted as my door was flung open. As soon as it was I could tell something was wrong. I quickly saw who it was that had burst in, it was Mari. Before I had even processed that much she was running towards me. The next thing I noticed was that her hair was a mess and she was wearing her pajamas. I guess she just woke up. Now she had taken my hand and was pulling me out the door. I stumbled to keep up not thinking about what was happening until I saw something down the hall on the floor. Ruby was on the floor with her back against the wall, staring at something, and then the rest of my senses caught up.

Screaming.

She was screaming like I’ve never heard before, worse than when Maru died, worse than Hanayo’s scream when Rin had died.

I knew what happened.

I didn’t want to accept it.

Mari pulled me closer.

I didn’t want to go.

But I knew I had to.

I didn’t want to accept it.

But as I was pulled in front of Dia’s room, I saw what I didn’t want to see.

The very idea of it terrified me.

But there she was.

Dia.

She was directly across from the door.

In her chest was a knife.

Nothing fancy.

Nothing confusing.

Just a knife in her chest, while she sat against the wall on her knees.

 

Why did this have to happen.

 

Why.

 

It was supposed to be all of us.

 

Why just her.

 

And I collapsed.

 

“Ding. Ding. Ding. Dong.”

 

That cursed sound.

 

“A body has been discovered. After a period of time a trial will be held.”

 

Why did this happen.

 

The three of us were all on the floor, just crying, we didn’t want this to continue. We just wanted this to end. It would have been so much easier to just die. Why do we have to go through any more of this. What was this for? Some twisted maniac’s game?

 

Hanayo hasn’t come yet. I’m guessing she’s doing the same thing as the rest of us. Just crying on the floor without wanting to continue.

 

I heard a beep at my waist, but I don’t want to check it. I don’t want any of this to happen. I don’t.

 

I felt Ruby push past, but my senses are so out of it that it may have been minutes since she actually did that. I looked up to see her holding onto Dia. She put her finger to Dia’s neck but it was pointless. We already knew.

 

Dia is dead.

 

But then what we didn’t expect happened.

 

Out of the bottom of Dia’s shirt poked a piece of paper.

 

Ruby slowly reached her hand to take it and pulled it out.

 

She opened it and a few moments later her crying slowed.

 

She crawled back to myself and Mari and gave us that paper.

 

_ Please don’t give up. Find the blackened and leave this place. _

 

It was that simple.

 

Only 11 words.

 

2 sentences.

 

But they were enough.

 

These were Dia’s last words to us.

 

She wants us to find who killed her.

 

I won’t let her down.

 

I stood up and tried to balance myself. My legs shook under my own weight but I didn’t fall.

 

This is my duty.

 

No matter how painful it is...

 

I intend to fulfill it...

 

***

 

Nobody wanted to move on, but we had to. It’s Dia’s wish for us to find her killer. We can’t let her down, not now.

“Chika, you should investigate, and I’m sure Ruby doesn’t want to leave Dia, so I’ll go get Hanayo, okay?”

“A-Alright, Mari, I… I’ll do my best.”

“Good, we can’t let Dia down, not now.”

Mari’s words were comforting but… My mind keeps telling me the same thing.

She could be the killer.

Anyone could be.

One person seems more likely than any of the others.

But it’s not something I can believe is even possible.

 

I finally took out my Monobook and turned it on, and there it was.

 

**Monokuma Special Bulletin**

Monokuma File #7

The victim was Dia Kurosawa.

The body was found in Dia Kurosawa’s room.

Time of death: approximately 4:30 PM

She died to a stab wound in her chest.

 

As I finished reading I looked at the clock in the corner of Dia’s room. It’s 5:00 right now. She’s only been dead for half an hour then… Just half an hour earlier she was still here… Alive… Like the rest of us…

 

I walked closer to Dia’s body to look at the knife, and I could hear that Ruby was still sobbing. I can’t blame her. I’m amazed that I’m not just as much of a wreck right now. I guess after 13 others I grew insensitive to death…

Looking at the knife in her chest, one thing was clear enough, this wasn’t a kitchen knife. It’s not even a knife at all. It’s a shard of broken metal. Who knows where it’s from though.

There wasn’t really anything else to look at with the body. There was no bruising, no other cuts, it was just the stab wound in her chest. After examining the body I got up and looked around at the rest of the room. There didn’t seem to be a struggle at all.

“Hey… Chika…”

“Huh? What is it Ruby?”

“I-I… I want to help as much as I can… I… The note Dia had… It’s in her handwriting… I don’t know if it’ll help at all but…”

“Don’t worry Ruby! Any information we can get is helpful! Thank you!”

Ruby didn’t respond she just looked back down at Dia’s hand, which she was holding in her own.

As I stepped away from the body I heard footsteps from the hallway. I turned around to see as Mari and Hanayo came into the room.

“This is… awful… we were so close… only five more hours and this wouldn’t have had to have happened…”

“It’ll be okay Hanayo, all we have to do is find the blackened, if we can do that then we won’t have to do this anymore. There would only be three of us left, we could go home…”

“Mari’s right. All we have to do is find the blackened, that’s all we have to do. Then we can leave this place.”

“So… I have a question.”

“What is it Mari?”

“Not for you Chika, it’s a question for Ruby.”

“H-Huh? What?”

“Why weren’t you with Dia? Either you were and are about to lie, or you broke the agreement to watch her.”

“M-Mari! Don’t say it like-”

“DON’T YOU THINK I’VE BEEN KICKING MYSELF OVER THAT? IF I WAS HERE THEN SIS WOULD STILL BE ALIVE, SIS IS DEAD AND IT’S MY FAULT FOR LEAVING HER.”

“Please, Ruby, just explain what you were doing! That’s all I need to know! If you can’t answer me then we would have to suspect you, and there’s no way I could bring myself to do that! I want to know what you were doing and why so that I don’t have to think you killed your sister!”

“...I was in the kitchen… Sis said it would be a good idea to cook dinner for everyone for our last meal together… She said she would come to help me later and that I shouldn’t wait for her… She said that since Hanayo was watching the door it would be okay… I believed in her, I trusted Sis, and now she’s dead… It’s my fault…”

Ruby’s tears were growing stronger again. I didn’t know what to do at this point, but before I realized it I had her in my arms.

“It’s ok Ruby, I believe in you, we have to do our best though, if we do our best then we’ll be able to leave. Then we can have proper funerals for everyone, okay? Now I want to hear you say you’re ready.”   
“H-Huh?”

“I want you to say you’re ready, then we’ll be able to continue, okay? We won’t do anything else until you’re ready, Ruby.”

“Th-thank you Chika…”

“So whenever you’re ready, just say it Ruby. We’ll wait as long as you want to.”

It took a few minutes of us just standing there, Mari and Hanayo watching us, but eventually she said it.

“I-I’m ready Chika...”

“Alright, if you really think you can, Ruby, then we’ll keep going.”   
“Mhm, it’s okay, we need to do this, I can’t let whoever did this get away with it!”

 

“So can someone explain what happened so I’m not behind?”

“Sure, Hanayo, Ruby would have been the first to find her, then I heard her scream and burst out. I didn’t even have to look in here before I knew what was wrong so I took off down the hall to get Chika so the announcement would play. I was able to hear Ruby because I set up something like what Maki had so that I would wake up if anything like this had happened. I guess it ended up being useful in the end…”

“Alright, that makes sense, well, I have another question, Ruby, you said that Dia told you not to wait for her, so what made you come back here? And what time was it when You left this room?”

“I’m not sure what time it was when I left, probably around 3? But I came back because I didn’t know what else Dia wanted me to make… I wanted to ask her what she wanted to eat…”

“Alright, that’s all I really wanted to know I guess, thanks for explaining.”

“So where should we look? The central hall is sealed so we can’t look in there, where else would be worth checking Hanayo?”

“Maybe it would be good to try and find where the shard could have been taken from, right Mari?”

“That’s a good idea Hanayo, I’ll stay here with Ruby, you and Chika can try and see what you can find. I’ll try to look at the shard and see if I can figure it out that way.”

“Alright, that sounds good. Are you okay with that Ruby?”

“Yeah, it’s fine Chika, don’t worry about me, I’ll try hard in the trial!”

With Ruby’s words of encouragement I left alongside Hanayo to investigate the rest of the hotel. Our search found…

Nothing

There was nothing to be seen, nothing seemed wrong, nothing was out of place, it was all normal.

“Hey, Hanayo, did you find anything weird?”

“No, I didn’t find anything at all. There are some trees and stuff knocked over in the Courtyard but nothing metal.”

“Well, what now then? There has to be somewhere we missed, right?”

“Well… there’s the Central Hall…”

“Yeah, but we can’t go in there, it’s been sealed off since that earthquake this morning. The door to the Medicine Room flew open during that one so Mari was probably right about poisons breaking open. Even if Monokuma would let us look, it’d be too dangerous…”

“Well, if we can’t find it anywhere else then we can assume it was from there, right?”

“Yeah, I guess so, you’re probably right.”

“We should go back and tell Mari then, there’s nothing else we can do out here.”

“Ok, let’s go Hanayo. Hopefully she’s figured something else out that I couldn’t while I was there.”

The two of us walked back to Dia’s room in silence. It probably wouldn’t be long before the trial. I don’t want to suspect anyone… but someone killed Dia. That was an unavoidable fact. Otherwise we wouldn’t be having a trial for her.

 

When we came back into the room, Mari turned around. Tears were still rolling down Ruby’s face, but her sobs have stopped.

“Hey, you two took a while, I’m guessing you didn’t find anything?”

“No, we think the metal came from the Central Hall since we can’t get in there.”

“I see, thanks Chika.”

“So, did you find anything while Chika and I were looking?”

“Well, I did find one thing. The metal’s broken in a crude way and bent. Meaning it probably was torn off of something, not cut, and it wasn’t like this initially.”

“S-So it’s a piece of something that was torn off?”

“Exactly, Ruby, it was pulled off of something and that something was probably in the Central Hall. My guess is probably something from the storage room.”

“So… What’s there to look for now?”

…

“There has to be more evidence? Right? There’s so little to go off of. All we know is that everyone had the opportunity, and the weapon probably came from the central hall…”

“You’re right Chika… But you said you checked every room you could right? Then there’s nothing more we can do… This is all the evidence we’ll get… We’re going to have to try to figure this out, even if it hurts.”

“Mari… I know what you mean but…”

“W-What are you three talking about? I d-don’t understand.”

“D-Don’t worry about it Ruby. Just do your best in the trial. We’re all going to have to.”

“O-Of course! I won’t let the person who did this get away with their crime! They… They killed my sister… I can’t let them get away with that!”

Hearing Ruby’s words only made it harder to think about what we had to do. But we’re going to have to start somewhere. We can’t just sit around and not try to figure out what happened.

As the four of us stood in Dia’s room, feelings of dread flowing through us, a sound played from the corner the room. Followed by the voice I hated so much.

“The investigation is now over! Everybody please report to the Commons Area for the last of our wonderfully horrible Hotel Trials!”

The four of us walked the short distance to the Commons Area together. It was painful. Dia was gone. What were we supposed to do now? She left us a final message. She left us the message that gave us the power to stand. The power to fight. She wants us to find her killer. She wants us to be able to leave when this is all said and done. She wants us to do this. She wants this to end. She wants us to be the ones to end it. And that’s exactly what I intend to do.

The Commons Area began to move. This would be the final time I would have to travel to these trial grounds. The final time we would have to argue over who killed someone. This is the end. It’s up to us make sure it ends with as many survivors as possible.

The movement stopped, the grate lifted, and the door opened. The trial grounds stood before us, just as they had in every trial up until now. But there were two new stands with pictures on them in the room. One for Riko, and one for Dia. As the four of us that remained took our positions, the pain was clear. None of us wanted this to have happened. We were only 5 hours away. 5 hours away from the end we agreed to. But there’s no use thinking about that now. It’s time to end this. It’s time to find the one who killed Dia Kurosawa, no matter how much pain it takes.

 

**_TRIAL START_ **

 

Mari: So… Here we are…

Hanayo: We really have to do this, don’t we?

Chika: Yeah… No matter what we have to find who killed her, even if it hurts to do it.

Ruby: Well, who’s the most suspicious? None of us have proper alibis, any of us could have done it.

Hanayo: Who’s… The most suspicious? Well…

Ruby: Huh? Do you have an idea Hanayo?

Hanayo: Er, well, that’s-

Mari: It’s you, Ruby.

Ruby: H-Huh?

Mari: We told you Ruby, it’ll hurt, but we need you to do your best! Prove to us that you didn’t kill your own sister! None of us want to accuse you of it but we have to! It’s what these trials are for!

Ruby: I-I don’t-

Hanayo: Please Ruby, do your best, we will too.

 

Mari: Ruby claims to have been in  **the kitchen** .

She said that Dia told her to cook a final meal for us.

Hanayo: She could have left at any point

gone to Dia’s room

and stabbed her  **without her ever realizing** she was there.

Chika: No! That’s wrong!

 

Hanayo: What are you doing Chika? Ruby’s supposed to defend herself!

Chika: If we get this wrong we all die except for the killer. I won’t sit still and let something wrong slip out!

Mari: Relax Hanayo, if something’s wrong it’s important that we know. It doesn’t matter who points it out.

Hanayo: Oh, yeah, I guess you’re right. What was it that I said wrong Chika?

Chika: Well, you said that Ruby could have snuck up on Dia, right?

Hanayo: Yeah, it would make sense, right?

Chika: Well, that’s not possible! Because Dia left a note telling us to find the killer!

Hanayo: H-Hold on a sec!

 

Hanayo: That doesn’t make sense! How can you say the note being left proves she wasn’t killed by surprise!

Chika: Well, because it means she expected to die of course. She knew that was about to happen and wrote a note for us.

Hanayo: No, that doesn’t make sense! I’ll prove that a surprise attack was possible!

 

Hanayo: The note doesn’t prove that Dia saw her killer coming!

She may have written it as she bled out!

She would have had plenty of time to write it since she died from a single stab!

Chika: No, she couldn’t have written it as she bled out.

Her handwriting is too neat.

If she was dying as she wrote it, she would have had a shaky hand!

Hanayo: Well that’s not the only possibility!

How do we know Dia even wrote the note?

It could have easily been  **written by someone else** and planted on her!

Chika: That’s a flawed argument!

 

Hanayo: What’s wrong with what I said? There isn’t any proof Dia wrote that!

Chika: No, Ruby can confirm that she wrote it. It’s written with Dia’s handwriting, her sister would know!

Hanayo: Ok, and how do we know Ruby isn’t lying?

Mari: I can corroborate that. I’ve seen Dia’s handwriting so many times on documents she’s filled out for me as Uranohoshi’s chairwoman that I know her handwriting by sight as well. And that note was definitely written by her.

Hanayo: I-I see. Well, I’m sorry Ruby. I just need to make sure you couldn’t have done it.

Mari: Well, after that, I guess there’s an obvious next person to question.

Hanayo: I’m guessing you mean me, right?

Mari: Yeah, you were pushing so hard for it to be Ruby, so it’s clear that you’d be the next one to ask.

Ruby: Wait, you don’t have to ask Hanayo anything! I’m sure she’s innocent!

Chika: Huh? Why Ruby?

Ruby: Well, Sis died at 4:30, but starting from 4:15 and until 4:35 I was setting stuff up at the tables in the Cafeteria. Hanayo was at the Central Hall so I would have seen her pass the Cafeteria if it was her! But I never saw her!

Mari: Defended by the one she was accusing, good job Hanayo.

Hanayo: Hey! You were accusing her too!

Chika: H-Hey! Stop fighting! We need to keep the trial going!

Ruby: Chika’s right! Besides… If Hanayo and I are innocent, that means one more thing…

Mari: That it was either myself or Chika who did it. Well, I know I didn’t do it.

Chika: And I know I didn’t either.

Mari: Well, this feels familiar. 2nd time this has happened to me with someone close to Ruby…

Hanayo: So… I guess the two of you have to try to prove your innocence and then we’ll know who the killer is!

Chika: but that’s the problem…

Mari: It’s impossible for either of us to prove we’re innocent.

Chika: Both of us were in our rooms.

Mari: So both of us had the chance.

Ruby: W-Wait, I just thought about something!

Chika: What is it Ruby?

Ruby: Sis took the time to write the note, so doesn’t that mean she was ok with being killed? Not only did she expect it, but Sis accepted it as well…

Mari: Are you sure about that? Don’t you think she could have just been prepared?

Ruby: What? What do you mean prepared?

 

Hanayo: I mean she could have expected to die

Meaning she wrote the note  **days in advance**

And had it with her all that time!

Mari: That’s insane!

Dia  **trusted us** too much

To expect us to kill her!

Ruby: And why did she accept her death then!

Hanayo: She didn’t

She would have  **fought back**

Chika: No! That’s wrong!

 

Hanayo: Huh? What do you mean?

Chika: Dia didn’t struggle at all, there were absolutely no signs of anything.

Ruby: That’s right, other than the one that killed her, there wasn’t a single wound on her.

Hanayo: Oh, I see, I never had time to investigate the body, so I guess I never noticed… But… What does that tell us? All that the note and lack of a struggle proves is that Dia would rather have the rest of us survive than have everyone die.

Mari: We really don’t have much to go off… That’s our problem, isn’t it? We don’t have any information. We don’t know anything…

Chika: So… What do we talk about then? We’ve limited the suspects to myself and Mari, and neither of us would vote for ourselves, but I don’t want to believe Mari would do this!

Hanayo: Though… Now that I think about it… Mari, you said you set up your door similar to how Maki had hers, right?

Mari: Yes? What about that?

Hanayo: Well, wouldn’t that mean you would have been able to hear Ruby leave Dia? You would have known when you would have had the opportunity to strike!

Mari: That’s absurd! What reason would I have to kill her anyways?

Hanayo: You were the one who decided to block the doors at night! You were the one who took Dia’s Monobook! You were the one to come up with the most countermeasures to prevent Dia from contacting the Mastermind! It’s clear that you were the one who trusted her the least!

Mari: What are you talking about? I did all those things  _ because _ I trusted her! I didn’t want her to be able to be manipulated by the Mastermind!

Ruby: W-Wait! You two! You need to calm down! 

Chika: She’s right! We can’t be fighting! We need to be calm about our discussions. There’s no need for you to be so defensive, Mari. And Hanayo, you shouldn’t yell at Mari like that!

Mari: Well what do you want us to do? We have no information on this trial! We have nowhere to go at this point! We have no way to know for certain who the killer is! There’s nothing we can do and we’re all going to die and the killer is going to escape!

Hanayo: Why don’t we just vote then! If you’re so certain that we won’t get anywhere then why don’t we speed up the process! There’s no reason for us to keep talking in circles!

Chika: BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!

Mari: …

Hanyo: …

Chika: We can’t be fighting like this right now! Even if we have nothing to go off there still has to be more things we can discuss. Even if we can’t find answers we can find leads, we can find information that may make one killer more likely than the other. We may not be able to come to a certain answer, but we can come up with more possibilities! So stop fighting and start discussing the case if you want to live!

Hanayo: … In that case… There’s something I realized…

Ruby: What is it Hanayo?

Hanayo: About the note… Dia still could have written it in advance. Rather than waiting until the killer was in the room with her, maybe she still expected to die. Maybe she still wrote the note before knowing who her killer was. And if that’s the case… It would still be possible for Ruby to have killed her by surprise…

Ruby: …

Mari: I… I don’t think I agree with you Hanayo…

Hanayo: Why’s that?

Mari: If Dia truly was killed by surprise, she would have had a more pained look on her face. She would have looked more like Kanan. But instead, her face was more similar to Rin’s. She accepted her death. And she wouldn’t accept a death that would also cause the death of her little sister.

Hanayo: I see… So while possible, she’s still the least likely.

Mari: Exactly.

Ruby: Um, excuse me, but…

Chika: What is it Ruby?

Ruby: I… I don’t think it is possible for Sis to have written the note in advance. I was with her the entire time since the trial. She never would have had a chance to write it without me seeing.

Chika: No, Ruby, that’s not true.

Ruby: Huh? Why?

Chika: Dia could easily have written the note while you were asleep, or even before Rin’s trial. There are too many gaps to rule out the possibility.

Ruby: Oh… I see…

Mari: Well… There’s one other possibility that I feel like we haven’t considered enough…

Chika: What possibility?

Mari: … The possibility that Dia took her own life.

Chika: …

Ruby: …

Hanayo: …

Mari: It’s possible, isn’t it? Dia could have had that metal shard in her closet from ages ago, and then stabbed herself.

Ruby: B-But… Sis wouldn’t do that! If she were to commit suicide, then that would mean there would be four of us left! And if there were four of us left, then the Killing Festival wouldn’t be over! We would have to suffer through one more killing!

Mari: But you’re missing the point, she may have done it just to prevent all of us from dying when the countdown hit zero. Or maybe she had been ordered to by the Mastermind and all of her actions these past few days were by the Mastermind’s orders. She could have lied to us all.

Ruby: I…

Mari: I know you don’t want to believe it, but it’s possible, right?

Chika: Mari’s right… It’s something that could have easily happened… We could have all been duped…

Hanayo: Ruby’s account protects me, and the three of you all cared too much about Dia to have killed her… I… I think Mari’s right…

Mari: Then..?

Chika: I think… This is as close of an answer as we’ll get… I think we should vote for it as a suicide and pray that we aren’t wrong…

Ruby: I… I don’t want to believe Sis would lie to us like that… But…

Mari: It was to protect you, Ruby. If she didn’t do it then you would have been killed…

Ruby: You’re right… I guess… We should vote…

Monokuma: Huh? Already? You only had like three debates!

Chika: We didn’t have enough information for this… This is as much discussion as we can manage… I’m not sure if our hearts can handle any more of this… Please Monokuma, let us vote and end this game!

Monokuma: Fine, fine, if you insist.

As Monokuma spoke, the panels rose in front of us. This was the end. If we were wrong we would all be executed. If we were right, then I’m almost certain we would live in this hotel forever, unable to bring ourselves to kill anyone.

I knew what I had to do. I pressed my finger against Dia’s portrait on the screen. The end is coming, and by selecting Dia, I’m sealing the fate of all four of us in this room.

The screen went dark as the panel sank back into the ground. Did we make the right choice? Monokuma spoke before I could contemplate any further.

Monokuma: So! I see you’ve all voted! Well, I can say for certain that the vote turned out unanimous! Unanimously WRONG!

A wave of panic took over. We were wrong. We were going to be executed. We failed Dia.

Mari: Wh-What? We were wrong? Who was it then! Who killed Dia!

Ruby: Tell us Monokuma! Who killed Sis!

Monokuma: The killer in this case? You want to know who killed Dia? The traitor the Mastermind put into the game? Well, she’s right over there! It was of course the one that you all love so dearly, Takami Chika!

 

**_TRIAL END_ **

 

What.

What..?

What?!?!

“W-Wait, What? That can’t be right! I didn’t kill Dia! You’re wrong Monokuma!”

“Huh? Why are you still denying it? You already won Takami, you get to go home now.”

“I’m denying it because it’s not true! I didn’t kill her! I would never kill Dia!”

“Y… You…”

“Mari! Please! You have to believe me!”

“You… Killed… My sister…”

“No! I didn’t kill her! You’re wrong Ruby! You’re wrong Monokuma!”

“Fine, fine, if you’re so adamant about it then I’ll show you the video!”

“Eh..?”

Suddenly the monitors around the trial grounds glowed with life, showing video from inside Dia’s room. And inside… It was just me and Dia. Ruby was nowhere to be seen. The time display at the bottom showed that it was 4:25, just 5 minutes before Dia died.

Dia’s mouth was moving, but I didn’t hear what she was saying.

“H-Hey! Why can’t we hear anything!”

“Dia struck a deal when the Mastermind was explaining the terms of being a traitor, Dia agreed as long as she could have no audio taken from her room. It seemed interesting so it was allowed. Now get back to watching, Takami!”

Turning back to the screen, I saw Dia‘s back to the wall, and she was turned slightly towards her desk. When she was finished she placed the note under her shirt and leaned back against the wall. Then, I walked forwards and drove the metal shard into Dia’s stomach. Dia seemed in pain, but she didn’t scream, she didn’t cry, she accepted what was happening.

But this was wrong.

Everything about it was wrong.

I never went to Dia’s room! I never saw Dia write that note! I never stabbed Dia with the metal shard we were unable to identify!

“Th-This!”

“So, Do you accept it now Takami? Do you accept the reality that you killed her?”

“No! I don’t!”

“Well, I tried, it doesn’t matter anyways, I’m just going to kill your friends now. You’re free to watch, and then you can leave!”

“No! I refuse! I won’t let you kill them!”

“Well it doesn’t matter, I’m the god of this hotel, you can’t stop me from doing my job!”

“Yes I can! Monokuma, I demand a retrial for this case!”

“Huh?”

“I demand that you allow us to investigate the hotel, the entire hotel, and look for any more information we can find! Then we will hold a final trial! I’ll prove you lied! And if you did, then that would be against your own rules! You won’t get away with this Monokuma!”

“Hmmm. The blackened won and demands a retrial? Well, that’s certainly interesting… Okay! I accept this. However, if you can not prove that you are innocent, I’ll kill you as well. Are you sure you still want to do this Takami?”

“Yes! I will prove myself! If I can prove you lied, then all four of us will be allowed to leave!”

“Deal. You have until morning tomorrow to investigate. None of the normal nighttime restrictions will be in place. You have 8 hours. Good luck Takami. And I may as well allow the other three to investigate as well.”

This is it. This is the real ending. Our last chance to escape. It was all or nothing. If we failed then we would all die. If we succeeded we would all live. 

This is the end.

Everyone, I hope you support me.

 

**_Chapter 7: End_ **

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry for the 4 month wait between chapters! School's picked up a lot recently so it was hard to find the time/energy to write, but I got through it eventually! I hope you all enjoyed reading and aren't too upset! luckily, there's only one chapter left so there won't be any long waits after that adfjgagjhg, though I guess that also means the series is going to be ending... huh... well, I really hope you enjoyed and I hope you look forward to the final face-off between Chika and the Mastermind!


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